Planter Boxes from Pallets
Some of you know that I am a real trash digger and a sucker for free stuff. So when I have the opportunity to build/paint something that used to be trash and make it awesome, it brings joy to my heart. DIY addiction.
In my search for the “perfect pallets” to build some patio furniture- I found these smaller pallets that actually have a closed bottom and are divided into two sections. All it took was a couple of 2×4′s to close up the 2 open sides, paint, dirt, and plants! Yay! Pop of color for our work-in-progress landscaping.
Here is a table/planter I made from a found wood box (I believe it is used to ship guns) and some cut 2×4′s. Some paint and succulents- voila! Now we have a place to set out drinks on our front patio and an excuse to buy more succulents (I sort of have a problem)!
Everything took me a few hours, a husband with a saw, and a hammer…. Chow. Chicka. Bow. Wow.
Our Maui Honeymoon!
I figured it is probably about time that I take the time to blog the photos from our honeymoon. Considering it took place week before Christmas (hence all of the Christmas trees and Santa Claus! weird in paradise right?) 4 months later is long overdue…and don’t you worry- I have Christmas pictures coming up next! yikes.
This brings back so many memories of the amazing time we had in Maui. Enjoy our shutter-happy-ness (this is really only a selection of the loads of pictures we took!) and our portraits of our wooden native friends.
Mouthwatering for some more of that Wailua Wheat beer, bacon burger (the best I have ever had), and shaved ice with ice cream in the bottom!!! Yummmmmm-oh!
AND my husband is doing VERY well with the camera lately- so proud of him!!!!
Laughy Stuff
I haven’t been great about posting lately, I know. We are gearing up for a big season at work- so I have been dedicating a lot of time to work. BUUUUT I have been thinking about this post for awhile and saving some pictures here and there. These are the things I have been cracking up about lately-
First up, cats or babies in wigs. I don’t know why I think they are so funny, but they are.
Next–I don’t even know where I came across these “head hammocks” I think maybe in skymall or something?
but when I tried google-ing them to find a picture to send to Matt, I found something even more hilarious:
Found out about the “Boyfriend” pillows from Glee–but when I was looking for them online, I found these equally-horrible “Girlfriend” pillows too! Loneliness no more!
I am more obsessed than usual with Daniel Tosh & Tosh.0—I have always been a fan, but it is really a fave these days. Not much TV makes me LOL (lull) like Tosh.
This cat accessory…(no, I don’t even have a cat)
This is my favorite thing of all—Dogs in pantyhose! Especially the really fluffy ones. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time…
There we go! Hopefully they can make you laugh as much as they make me laugh 
Happy Monday!
Running in the rain
If any of you are anything like me, when you get busy- you start neglecting yourself and get lazy about your health. As we are gearing up for this upcoming wedding season in my photography business, it is so easy to turn that: “wake up early to workout” into “I need coffee first” into “maybe I should just get a headstart on the workday.” So unfortunately, working out for me has been put on the back burner.
As it is getting nicer here in the Boise area, I have really wanted to spend more time outdoors. So I have wanted to start moving my workouts from the gym to the road! Can’t wait to start to do more hiking and build up my running endurance!
So today, Saturday, no excuses- getting outside and going for a little run/walk…and it starts to rain. No excuses!! Although I didn’t last as long as I wanted, I got a short, rainy, sweaty workout in for the day.
Now for tomorrow….
The world needs more love letters…
Around 2 weeks ago, I got to attend my very first WPPI Photo conference in Las Vegas. I got to listen to some AMAZING speakers that inspired me to not only make positive changes to my business, but also reminded me how I should also be making positive changes to myself. A few years ago, Frannie and I went to Seattle for an intensive workshop with a husband & wife photography team: Justin & Mary Marantz. They are not only amazing photographers- but amazing business owners, and AMAZING people! When you leave one of their workshops/talks- you not only have a tear-stained face, but you want to be good to the people in your life, and you want to make a difference in the world. Their workshop completely TRANSFORMED our business. Mary is such an outstanding speaker- please take advantage of any opportunity you have to listen to her!
Their blog is so follow-worthy for her writing alone (not to mention the amazing photography they are pumping out!) http://justinmarantz.com/ you dont have to be a photog to love it….seriously.
Okay, I am done preaching about them! Well, I found out that they were speaking in Vegas, and OF COURSE Frannie and I jumped at the chance of listening to them again, and I am so glad that we did- because we were introduced to this:
I choke up every time I watch it!! AGHH! It is absolutely an amazing *little* thing that has turned into something HUGE. www.moreloveletters.com
Although I haven’t really figured out what my difference is just yet, I am trying to be a good wife, friend, and person in the process.
So, what will you do to make a difference in the world (tiny or big), what are you leaving behind?
Tissue Paper Poppy Tutorial // Easy!
I am getting ready for a “spring themed” styled engagement shoot- and I wanted some big yellow flowers to go with the shoot….although this is really the last thing I have time for. I came up with a way to make them SUPER fast and super simple.
So- what you need:
-colored tissue paper sheets (for petals)
-green crepe paper sheets (for stem and leaves)
-18 gauge (or thicker) stem wire
-Kraft paper, or another color paper for flower centers
-white glue
-colored duck tape
If you know you are going to be making a lot of flowers, it is best to cut everything out first and then do more of a mass production, but just for the sake of making one:
1. Cut out your petals from the colored tissue paper. Since tissue is so thin, you should be able to cut a whole flowers worth of petals at once. Every 2 petals should butt up against a fold (so they are attached) cut 8 petals (4 sets of 2 petals) for every one flower.
2. Cut your flower centers from your kraft paper from a 3×4″ piece folded “hotdog style”—cut slits in the unfolded side
3. Bend the end of your wire into a loop and then wrap the Kraft paper you just cut (fringe side up) and then secure with duck tape.
4. Poke the end of the wire into the centers of your double petal seams. Arrange around the Kraft centers (alternate like natural flower petals) and once you have all 8 petals in place, crinkle gently downward with the palm of your hand and secure with the duck tape.
5. Take a strip of crepe paper the length of your flower stem and about 1.5″ wide and twist around the wire. Use a dot of glue here and there to secure around base of flower and down the length of the stem.
6. Cut leaves from the crepe paper and lightly glue on the stem (according to personal taste) let glue dry completely.
7. Open the flower (I like to have some closed, but again- personal taste) and fluff the Kraft centers. Don’t over do the petal manipulation- it will make the tissue go limp!
Voila! Flowers that won’t die- quick & easy!
Vegas and Soul Searching
I an currently in Las Vegas for the WPPI photography conference…I know, it sounds like a really weird place to soul search, who knew that “road sodas” to Circus Circus would result to a whole new reflection on my life?
I received an email while I was here from a client who is going through something really awful. She was expecting a new addition, I was one of the first to know, and she lost the baby. I know that this is something that happens a lot during the first couple months of pregnancy, but it hit me in a way that is hard to explain. The thought of feeling like something is going to be a certain way, and then it isn’t. Making plans that aren’t for you. I want to hold her in my arms and sob because I couldn’t imagine breaking those plans myself. “Dear Nichole, we actually are not in need of your services at this time, because I lost the baby.” Heartache.
When it comes down to it, things aren’t always the way we plan them, the people you love may not always be there, life might not always “be” as you know it. It makes me realize why what I do is so important because I get to document life “as we know it” and that is pretty incredible…because it might be the last document we have, knowing that type of life.
Delicious snack on the GO!
New favorite portable snack! Sabre Hummus Singles (found them at Costco!)–since it is easy to go overboard on dips -healthy or not- this is just the perfect amount for a mid-day snack! I love it with baby carrots or Ak Mak whole wheat crackers (qty 4= 88 calories). Yum!
New MySpace?
We heard a rumor that MySpace upped their game, so on a wild social-networking hair-we decided to head on over and check it out. Sadly, whenever I am playing around with something new, I feel like my grandmother with a helpless “it’s IN the COMPUTER!?” sort-of feeling…but I think I am getting used to navigating this web of confusion. From my basic understanding, new.myspace.com is like Facebook and Pandora had a baby…and they dressed that baby in old Myspace paraphernalia. So, basically- the old, meet-market, S-show MySpace that we all learned to know and despise, is no longer…or maybe it is, and I just don’t really know how to work that part. In the meantime, I am going to jam out to my beloved Lumineers playlist and hope that more people will want to friend us, because who likes having 0 friends? Why not check it out? FRIEND US!
Cheap find: Rimmel Extra Wow Lash
So some of you know, I used to be a make up artist for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics- therefore, working at a counter surrounded by tons of competitors’ beauty products lead me to test the *latest & greatest*! Long story short, I know my shit when it comes to cosmetics….
Most of the products I wear are MAC (color at least) still love Bobbi for skin- but when it comes to mascara, give it to me CHEAP! Even the magnificent Bobbi Brown herself says that if you are going to splurge, let mascara be the one thing that you can pick up from a drugstore— since you should be changing out your mascara every 3-5 weeks to avoid bacterial infections…
So- I found a favorite mascara awhile back- it is by Maybelline, called: Define a Lash Volume (it is pink, not the green one) but the fools discontinued the pink one!! So since then, I have been using a various selection of Loreal (rumored to be the same mascara as the world-famous Lancôme) which I am happy with- but if you don’t get it on sale/or b1g1 free- it can run a little spendier.
So, in need of new mascara and being the cheap-ass that I need to be, I decided to take a chance on a Rimmel mascara that was $3.50….and ladies, it rocks. I like a LOT of mascara, and the brush gives me the flexibility I need to have a thick-yet-controlled lash and the formula doesn’t end up under my eyes during the day! Woohoo!
Goodreads
No data found
